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An
American, Norwegian, Israeli, French and Swiss sat on a Middle Eastern beach…

This is not the
beginning of a joke. It is the beginning of a journey we started less
than one year ago with GradTrain. We invite you to join us on this journey.

We are five friends from five different countries who crossed an ocean or two to study in the United
States, in different fields: Computer Science, Engineering , Sociology, and Law.
On that Middle Eastern beach, on that hot summer day, we discussed our
experiences applying to Graduate school abroad: the challenges we faced and the
funny mistakes we made (which were not at all funny at the time!). As our
conversation progressed, we saw that we all faced similar challenges (lack of
information, spending money unnecessarily in the process, and more). We also came
to the conclusion that it should not be so hard - and that we can help - by
creating a solution that will make it easier for others who are interested in doing
what we did and study abroad.

That moment marked
the birth of GradTrain:
an online community for ambitious young people who wish to get into graduate
school abroad and complete their studies successfully.

GradTrain:
the solution for prospective international graduate students

First, we ran a broad international survey,
to find out if maybe, after all, we were the only ones who faced such problems.
The answer was very clear. After analyzing the results from hundreds of current
and past international graduate students from more than 50 countries (and confirming
it with external research sources as well) we can say with certainty that most
prospective students do not have the guidance they need for applying to
graduate school abroad (and in many cases pay huge sums of money
to obtain guidance). Surely, many of our readers can confirm this from their
personal experience.

We know how to help people fulfill their potential through international
graduate studies. International students often wish they knew “then” – i.e.,
when they applied, what they know “now,” after they are in school or after
graduation. This is the concept of GradTrain.
GradTrain
connects applicants with former international students with a similar
background and similar career trajectory who have already completed the process
successfully and can provide the right guidance for them to achieve
their goals. They will hold the hand of the applicants throughout the process
and empower them to maximize their potential.

We combine this guidance with data-based algorithms, which
can assist applicants in the process with program selection, scheduling,
application enhancement, seeking financial support and more.

We create a community of able, intelligent, curious and
ambitious people who understand the value of globalization and are excited by
it. We provide them with the tools to help each other in achieving their
academic and career goal. Eventually, it is from this community that the future
leaders and top researchers – in science, medicine, business, law, engineering,
politics, social sciences, humanities and in academia – will emerge.

GradTrain - A Socially Responsible Startup

We want to solve a
real problem and help individuals fulfill their potential. But graduate study
abroad is not only a benefit for the individual who pursues these studies. GradTrain sees
itself as a double-bottom
line business. We measure our success not
only by business sustainability, but also by the positive impact we have
on the world.

We believe that the
solution to many global challenges lies in empowering intelligent and ambitious
people to study anywhere across the globe; being exposed to other cultures
opens one’s mind to see other perspectives and challenges basic assumptions
about our own culture. “No kidding, going through this experience can help bring
peace. Real, tangible peace.” says Lital Helman (Israel), a GradTrain
co-founder. “Some of the best friends I made in America are from countries with
which my country has no diplomatic relations. There is no way I would have
otherwise met them.” When students graduate and go back home, or integrate into
the country where they studied, they are rich with knowledge and experiences
learned from the diversity and interaction between cultures that they
experienced during their studies.

Studying abroad is
also a humbling experience. The people who pursue graduate programs abroad are
often the upper-upper class in their own society. For many of them, this will
be the first time to experience how it is to be a minority; to have an accent; to
feel like an outsider. This experience has the potential to make a person more
attentive to the weaker sectors of society later on in life.

“In our vision,” says
Sharon Rodner (Norway), a GradTrain co-founder, “everybody in the world deserves
to have the opportunity to pursue this experience of international education. Yet,
more than 50% of those who try – fail in the process. There are many more who
do not even try because of the challenges the process entails. We aim to enable
more people to go through this experience successfully.”

We have encountered
some great excitement and enthusiasm about the solution we are introducing for
a real problem and feel that we as a team can make GradTrain a success. We are
close to launching our Beta platform in a few weeks and are now signing up and
training coaches to make a real difference and simplify the challenging process
of applying and studying abroad.

Based on our vision,
we want our first external funding to be based on the power of the internet to
mobilize people across the world, create a community and increase the opportunity
of many individuals to participate in a solution to a global issue. We have
thus decided to launch a (non-equity) Crowdfunding
camapaign, where many people from across the globe can join us and
support what we are trying to achieve, and fulfill our business and social
goals.

“Crowdfunding is a
platform that democratizes start-up investments just as GradTrain aims to
democratize the international education process”, says Jacob Bacon, a Former
advisor at the United Nations and a GradTrain Co-Founder. “Building a community
where people can reach out and get help from people of similar backgrounds, that
share interests and goals and have gone through the process of applyingand studying abroad successfully, combined
with cutting-edge data to enable informed decisions, is what GradTrain is all about. Together – we can
broaden access to international education and make a positive impact on the
world, for generations to come.”

GradTrain
will be launching its crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in
a few weeks. We hope you will follow us through the Crowdfunding campaign, and support
us in any way you can. If you are in the New York City area, we are planning a
launch party for our crowdfunding campaign. Email
us if you would like to join us in this campaign and we will be happy to
keep you posted and send you additional information on how you can partner with
us to make GradTrain a huge success!

1 comments:

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About

GradTrain is a community of past, present and future international students. It provides data tools and mentoring for international students – allowing them to make the most of the study abroad experience and fulfill their potential.
Visit us at: www.gradtrain.com